Farmers will march to Delhi in February over their demands

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The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-political) on Tuesday said farmers will march to the national capital in February after holding mahapanchayats across the country in the next three months over "anti-farmer" policies of the central government.

The organisation held its national executive meeting and formulated the strategy for its movement over various demands.

"In the meeting, it was decided to hold 20 mahapanchayats across the country in the next three months to make farmers aware about anti-farmer policies of the government and the demands of farmers. After organising these mahapanchayats, a programme of Delhi March has been fixed for February 26, 2024," the organisation said in a statement.

The farmers have eight main demands, including a law guaranteeing purchase of crops at the minimum support price (MSP), debt waiver, stopping privatisation of the electricity sector and pension to farmers above 60 years of age.

In the meeting, all the organisations unanimously passed a resolution condemning the central and Delhi governments for "deliberately" holding farmers responsible for pollution in the national capital, according to the statement.

The organisation said the harvesting of 1509 and PR varieties of paddy starts in the last week of September but pollution does not increase in October. Why does this pollution increase in Delhi only after the festival season arrives?

Farmer leaders said that in 2019, the Supreme Court had ordered that state governments should give Rs 100 per quintal bonus on paddy to those farmers who do not burn stubble, but till now no state government has given the bonus.

They also said the governments are not arranging adequate quantity of super seeder and baler machines for proper management of stubble.

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